January 12, 2020 – The First Sunday After Epiphany – Word Travels Fast

Mark 2:1-22 Jesus heals a paralytic and eats with tax collectors

With the speed of
the Gospel of Mark, the people learn that Jesus is home in Capernaum. And they
gather, and gather. So many gather that they can’t all fit into the house, and
some enterprising, compassionate, driven people climb up on the roof and make a
way for their friend to be lowered down in front of Jesus. What Jesus says next
inflames the room, or at least the scribes. He forgives the man his sins, and
tells him to walk. They want to know who he is to forgive sins. The crowd is
simply excited and amazed. They had never seen anything like this.

Jesus walks to the sea, calls Levi to
follow him. (Sometimes Levi becomes Matthew, sometimes James. There is no Levi
listed among the 12.) Levi follows Jesus. And they have dinner at Levi’s house,
which sets the rumor mill flying again. Then there is one last set of questions
about fasting, and about not fasting.

On one hand, it’s amazing how much
‘trouble’ Jesus gets into this quickly. On the other hand, it’s amazing how
much the world is responding to what Jesus is doing. The Church doesn’t move
this quickly. The Church is afraid to move quickly enough to make waves. What
about us? Are we willing to move quickly enough to have people talking about
us, questioning us? Do we have an answer? Jesus moves quickly and decisively. The
Word is on the move.